Rustic Pine Tabletop

[drchristian]

I just got back into woodworking after a 10 year recess to restore a old car. My first project is a rustic pine kitchen table my daughter in law picked out. The one she showed me has a top made from 3 2x6 boards. It seems to me if you spill something it would run betweenthe boards and be impossible to clean. I was thinking of joining the edges on my jointer and edge gluing the into a solid top. In order to get the board look I was going to campher thr top edge. It will have breadboard ends using tounge and grove. Does this sound right or should I just leave it as seperate boards with some cleats? What you think?
https://www.google.com/search?q=far...AUICSgC&biw=320&bih=460#imgrc=ZTrv1tGVmOzClM:

 

[dancam]

IMHO I would suggest you not chamfer but glue up the top as a solid and then when you finish flattening by planer/hand plane/sandpaper you then run a V groove over each joint including the breadboard ends. This will make it easier to joint and glue up and smooth.

 

[JohnnyR]

I'm currently doing a similar project for a coffee table. I'm ripping the boards to width, jointing and then 1/8" campher. I'm then using a spindle sander,or if the boards are too awkward to do this, the edge of a belt sander or ROS ( have to experiment) to rough up the campher so it doesn't look so uniform - being careful not to sand below the campher on the jointed edge. I'll then glue them up, rout the ends for tenons, campher the ends and the breadboard ends and assemble. Cleaning out glue squeeze-out is going to be a bear so I might pre-finish at least the camphers.

I've got the pieces cut and about to do this so if anyone has any better ideas now's the time to speak up or forever hold your peace!

 

[JohnnyR]

I posted before I saw Dan's. He's right if you want a uniform groove but I don't know how to rough up the groove this way other than carving which I'm not experienced at.

 

[Rick M]

I would go with your plan to join the boards and chamfer the edges before glue up. Decades ago we had a table like that where the boards were separate and as you predict, stuff gets between them and they are gross to clean.

 

[Jeff]

It seems to me if you spill something it would run betweenthe boards and be impossible to clean.

Not to be too contrary but...

A chamfer, v-groove, etc is a fancier place for all of the above to accumulate. Is that a major concern vs a plain-jane tabletop glue up?

 

[KenOfCary]

If you want the look without the potential mess you might try making shallow grooves of your choice and using an epoxy top coat like on bars that will actually fill them in. You'll see the grooves but they won't accumulate detritus.

 

[CrealBilly]

Personally I would not go with any grooves - just too hard to keep clean and the point were the V groove starts is a spot for finish to wear off quicker then the rest of the table top.

If you like the groove look. Then I would do as others suggested and V groove after glue up. Then fill the V groove with something clear, like epoxy or bartop finish. This will give you the look and be easy to keep clean.

Maybe even glue up some thin dark wood (walnut) strips in-between the wide planks, might give you the look your after without having to V groove at all. You could also glue a darker strip to the breadboard ends.

Irregardless of what you do, I think you already know but in case you don't you should not glue the breadboard ends to the ends of the top. They must float to allow for movement of the wood. It's common to do floating pinned mortise and tendon joints for the breadboard ends. Pin from underneath if you don't want to see the pins. But personally I like to see the pins so I would do a pin through with contrasting wood for the pins.